[1st-mile-nm] Sample of Barriers to Entry and regulatory stupidity

[John Brown]

Here is a brief review of regulatory stupidity as experienced first-hand.

Mountain Bell == US West == Qwest == CenturyLink, same wolves, different clothes......

Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Utility Authority
	Spends rate payer money to fill abandoned drinking water pipes with concrete so they can abandon in place.
	Refuses to engage in allowing those STEEL pipes to be used for Open Fiber Networks. WASTING resources.
	Refuses to engage in allowing conduit to be placed when they are cutting the City streets to replace water lines.
	Results, WASTED MONEY, WASTED LAND FILL, ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS AND WASTE, Higher costs for network deployment.
	Results, Higher fees to water drinking customers.

Rio Rancho  
	Wants to have the ability to TERMINATE agreements on 180 day notice with OR WITHOUT cause.
	(Yes that means you can spend millions building a fiber network, only to have your entire network trashed because the City decides it doesn't like you, and you have NO recourse).
	Rather have cash instead of having schools hooked up to dark fiber at no cost.
	Rather have cash instead of having libraries, city buildings, parks, community centers hooked up to dark fiber at no cost.


And my all-time favorite, Top of the list still running 4+ years later.

City of Santa Fe (not to be confused with County of Santa Fe)
	Expect you to pay thousands just to ask if it's ok to dig
	Expects you to pay even more thousands to make sure everyone around you thinks its ok to dig
	Expects you to pay even more to tell everyone you are going to dig
	Forms a study group to figure out what to do, disbands the group because it doesn't like answer, forms new group that can only give it an 	answer it likes.
	In sum, they want you to pay THOUSANDS (almost $7500 in fees and costs) just to do the paperwork to hook a house to fiber.
	So 7500 in City fees and mandated costs, plus around 1400 in actual construction and equipment, yields 8900 for a single family home
	That means it will take around 12-14 years to pay back hooking that home up, if you charge $79.95 per month, don't forget COGS.
	
	So in the meantime, they are spending hundreds of thousands defending a federal law suit.
	Yes they the City are SPENDING YOUR TAX MONEY defending a law suit because of their broken rules.
	You, the City of Santa Fe Citizen are thus DEPRIVED of next generation technology.

Private Sector:

PNM  (as in Public Service Company of New Mexico)
	Um, we don't see you as a service provider and thus we aren't required to let you on our poles.
	If you don't like that, then you can sue us in federal court and take 3 years of your life.
	Yes, we know the spirit of the FCC and the Nation is to let fiber on our poles, but we will only let our friends on, or those that are bigger than us.
	Yes, we know that the revenue from pole attachment helps REDUCE electrical costs for our customers, but that doesn't matter.
	Yes, we will even let others who don't have a RoW with the City use our own rate payer paid for fiber cable, but only if we like them.